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Monday, February 25, 2013

Discovering hidden flowers in my jungle garden

In the tropics everything grows so well, that sometimes I have to think about a certain plants aggressive nature. I like to be able to see that all the plants are surviving ok, but still have a full tropical look to the garden. I am often torn about removing certain plants that have become too aggressive for my small garden.

A plant at the back has huge leaves, rounded, and very firm, and I love the way they scratch against each other in the wind. I planted two of them - one against the fence and the other at the back, next to the sexy pink lady. Hubby loves the feeling that we live in the middle of a lush tropical rainforest. I worry that the plants are crowding each other out. Is there too much now in that corner?

The difficulty is that some of those plants will go dormant in the dry season. I see more turmeric has come up, so have to be careful I do not create bare patches.. I have that in the veggie perennial bed now, so will remove it from the corner, leaving more room for flowers. My large heleconia is starting to flower, but I wonder at my logic of planting this - I think it is too big for this area.

This flower doesn't look big, but as it unfolds will be about 3ft high! It is upright, as opposed to the sexy pink lady which is hanging down. Each stalk will only flower in its second year. - do I have enough room for this to hang around two years before getting a flower? I moved some of this to the central island, but it is not doing well. I can see why - those plants compete with palm roots, have to rely on whenever it rains to get watered, and occasionally get a little compost flung at them. Not like these pampered babies!

This little anthirium was started from a piece of my neighbours plant, and I love the deep red colour. I hope it doesn't get lost in amongst the bigger, more robust pink anthirium.

The beehive ginger has not enjoyed the neglect I have shown it, but then again it might already be going dormant for the dry season. This area really needs a clean out, and I have a friend who needs some plants for a garden she is creating. Then again the beehive goes pretty mcuh dormant in the dry season too.

I like the way the ground orchids are framing the side path, and am thinking of replacing all the roheo along the front edge with ground orchids - so much prettier and well-behaved.

I have this salad bowl that I never used and thought it would make a good extra birdbath, and to stabilize it a put in a few rocks, and this little ceramic bird. I think I may have overdone it though, as the birds have not come near.

The butterflies might like it though - they like to sun themselves on rocks alongside the water, so I have heard.

This small heleconia in front of the birdbath is probably much more suited to my garden. Notice how the grasshoppers have chewed along the edges of these leaves....

How come other gardeners seem to manage to plant plants that stay the size they are supposed to and don't run rampant through the garden, obliterating other plants as they go.
Oh yes! They don't live in the tropics.

17 comments:

Looks as if you have some of the same plants we have, and the grasshoppers! Ours are called lubbers and they can strip a plant overnight. I don't use pesticides, so I have to find them while they're busy at work. I see you have plants in the ground that I can only grow in pots because we get the occasional frost in this semi-tropical area. Your garden is lovely!

Wow, I didn't think of how quickly your plants grow in the tropics. Most of where I've been in Africa has seemed so hot and dry that I thought it would be hard to grow things. Your garden looks very nice! I wish mine would grow so quickly but it doesn't.

Lesa,sometimes we get those huge lubbers, but these are regular green grasshoppers - very difficult to see and catch. they definitely have quite an appetite :)Joyful,I was born in Africa, but now live in Australia, where it is anything but dry. Sorry if that was confusing.Thistle Cove,I really am very blessed to live here as the plants grow on their own!

When I moved to the Tropics many years ago I asked a local man for some gardening tips. He said "When it gets too big, chop it back"Sometimes I wish I had your problem in my garden here, when things are so slow to get esablished.

I wouldn't thin out my plants as yet, since the dry season is coming and that will take care of weeding out a few.Only if you have shrubs that are taking over, would I chop them back now.Your garden looks very lush and pretty.Those grasshoppers sure are a PITA.

You definitely don't have too many big plants - your garden looks so lush and beautiful!

I suspect the birds are ignoring your birdbath because it's the wet season and they have plenty of places to drink and bathe. Come the dry, they'll be there. You might have too many stones in it though for the birds to really get a good wash. We pile all our stones on 1/2 of our bird bath so bees, butterflies and birds can drink but try to keep a large shallow spot with no protruding rocks for the birds to splash in.

Oh Roz,your garden is marvellous and, I might add... Huge :) Virginia,My thoughts exactly! Let nature decide.Susan, Yes one of the plants that I am a bit afraid is being muscled out is the sexy pink lady, and I wont let that happen. Laura,we have our regulars that bathe every day in the other birdbath - that is why I thought this might attract the smaller species. Debbie,thank youRusty,that is a good way of looking at it. I do find myself praising them for good behaviour!

I really love your beehive ginger. Some upscale hotels around here use them in their floral arrangements. I have the same problem with these aggressively growing Heliconians. I let them be and harvest them for my floral arrangement if they are out of alignment.

Miyako yes the ground orchids are my favourites as well. They don't need any special care, just multiply all on on their own.Stilletto,I find so many of the flowers bring ants inside. Especially the gingers, but will often bring in a heleconia.

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Quotes I enjoy

Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables, they probably get jet-lagged, just like people do - Elizabeth Berry

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:6-7

The secret of happiness is not found in seeking more,

but in developing the capacity to enjoy less

- paraphrased from Socrates quote

“See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.” – Mother Teresa

Nature in all its diversity grants us a glimpse into the heart of God the Father which is nothing but Love.

It is not what you look at that matters, it is what you seeHendry David Thoreau

Making a garden is not a gentle hobby for the elderly,to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole, and once it has done so he will have to acceptthat his life is going to be radically changed. May SartonPlant Dreaming Deep, 1983

When the trees sing,It doesn't really matterIf you know the song, Or if you know the words,Or even if you know the tune.What really matters is knowing ....That the trees are singing at all.Mattie Stepanek, 1990-2004

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walkor an evening saunter;to be thrilled by the stars at night:to be elated over a bird's nestor a wildflower in spring... these are some of the rewards of the simple life.John Burroughs, 1837-1921

Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder…”– Thoreau

“Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it I wash my mouth out with chocolate.” ~ Charles M. Schulz

You who walkmaybe with troubled thoughts....Come, enter here and restand may the sweet serenityof growing things....and the heavenly peacebe mirrored in thy soul.by Michael Palmer

Gods GardenThe Lord God planted a gardenIn the first white days of the world,And he set there an angel wardenIn a garment of light enfurled.So near to the peace of HeavenThat the hawk might nest with the wren,For there in the cool of the evenGod walked with the first of men.And I dream that these garden closesWith their shade and their sun-flecked sodAnd their lilies and bowers of roses,Were laid by the hand of God.The kiss of the sun for pardon,The song of the birds for mirth, -One is nearer God’s heart in a gardenThan anywhere else on earth.For He broke it for us in a gardenUnder the olive-treesWhere the angel of strength was the wardenAnd the soul of the world found ease.Dorothy Francis Gurney

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.Mary Jean Iron

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.Albert Einstein

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time."~ John Lubbock******************************************************